Cheese—it's just like us! Its flavors and moods change with the seasons depending on the character of the milk used to make it. Spring is an exciting time for cheesemakers, as many cows, goats, and sheep transition from dried winter grains to fresh pasture. That new diet contributes grassy, floral, and nutty notes to milk while subtly altering its chemical composition.
In the first entry of a new Cheesemaker Roundtable series, we polled our cheesemakers on how their milk changes through the seasons, and how that affects the cheese they're making right now.
From tender to savory
As a pasture-based dairy in a climate that still has deep winters, we notice changes almost immediately once the cows are back on pasture. The milk changes from a stark white to deeper gradients of yellow. It also loses some of the higher fat levels and becomes richer in protein. That fat comes from adding grain and nutrients into their diet during the winter. I feel that due to these gradual changes in diet, our cheeses have a more tender texture from winter milk and a more savory flavor and tighter texture from the summer milk. — Tom Perry, Shelburne Farms
A golden spring glow
Our herd of Jersey and Holstein cows graze during the late spring through early fall. The milk during this period is golden in color and sweeter. The wheels of cheese are very yellow. Components go down and the fat content is lower. During the winter our herd eats hay instead of grass. The cheese made during the winter is snowy white. The fat and protein levels go up in the milk. Their grain is adjusted according to the season and the quality of the forages. — Kerry Gewalt, Cobb Hill Cheese
Munching on microflora
Summer milk usually gets all the fanfare. Cows are out on pasture grazing a buffet of fresh grasses, herbs, forbs, and legumes while also collecting a diversity of natural micro-flora that positively contributes to raw milk quality. The beta carotene in fresh plants even gives the cheese a buttery yellow hue. But summer milk is actually leaner, or lower in butterfat, than milk from other times of the year. In the winter we feed dry hay made from the same pastures. This, along with a more cozy cow lifestyle, leads to better butterfat conversion and notably richer milk. We mirror traditional cheesemaking cycles, from leaner Alpine styles like Calderwood in the summer to goo-bombs like Winnimere in the winter, to take advantage of the milk's best qualities throughout the year. — Zoe Brickley, Jasper Hill Farm
Extra spring freshness
Our goats are milked all year, resulting in a consistent supply. However, between January and April, we receive extra fresh milk from does in their first lactation. This rich milk is used to craft our award-winning Greek style Feta. During spring and summer, rotational grazing imparts the distinct taste of local flora to our cow and goat milk cheese. — Anne Doe, Boston Post Dairy
Keeping it consistent
Milk is a living ingredient, and it naturally shifts with the seasons. On our farm we keep our cows indoors where we can protect their comfort year-round and feed them a consistent diet each day, which helps maintain stable milk composition and consistent cheese flavor and quality. Even with that consistency, seasonal factors like daylight and fermented forage still influence the milk slightly. That is why we work closely with a professional cow nutritionist who monitors our cows’ diet and our forage (corn and hay silage) quality and adjusts the diet when needed to keep the milk balanced for cheesemaking. — Marieke Penterman, Hollands Family Cheese
Fresh and mellow spring abundance
Since we have a seasonal grazing herd, our milk changes a lot: plentiful and mild in the spring, when the grass is lush and the cows have first calved, then more concentrated in the summer as both the grass growth and the cows slow down, and finally ending with our densest milk in the fall before we (and the cows) take our winter break. This definitely shows in our cheeses. Our Mountaineer loves spring milk but not the richer late season milk. Our Grayson does well with both extremes, but becomes almost a different cheese as the year progresses—lighter in in spring, fudgier and earthier in the fall. Appalachian is our mellow cheese; it makes well at any time of year! — Kat Feete, Meadow Creek Dairy
Managing multiple herds
Seasonal milk availability is a major variable in our cheese production. We milk cows year-round; our small ruminants are only milked during Spring and Autumn. Our flagship cow milk recipes, including Seven Sisters and St. Malachi, are produced year-round. We produce 10 unique cheeses from November to March and when all three herds are being milked we produce up to 24 different recipes. — Miguel Vivanco, The Farm at Doe Run
Stocking up for the season
Our milk has a lot more fat in the wintertime when it's cold out. Usually the cheese that we make in the winter are creamier and softer, which lends itself more towards soft ripened styles. In the summer we get almost double the milk volume, but the milk tends to be less fatty, suitable for hard Italian-style cheeses. The result is that we tend to stock up on long-aged hard cheeses in the summertime when the milk is less fatty. — Dan Porter, FireFly Farms
From sweet to tangy
Since our goats are on pasture—basically from when the snow thaws to when the snow comes again—there is a pretty big swing in the milk. It starts and ends really sweet and rich and becomes a little tangier and grassier in the summer months. I make the same varieties of cheese throughout the year, so it's fun tasting those little differences. It's much more pronounced in our bottled goat milk. — Rebecca Velazquez, Barn First Creamery
A floral touch
The components (fat, protein, lactose, vitamins/minerals) of the cow's and sheep's milk that we source from local dairies here in southern Vermont change according to what the animals are eating.
Our sheep milk comes from the Central New York Dairy Sheep Milk Producers, an Amish Cooperative in Upstate New York. The sheep are pastured on a clover grass mix spring through summer. We use the spring and summer “flush” for our sheep's milk cheeses because the fresh grasses and warmer temperatures help the animals produce a better quality milk, including higher Omega-3 fats, giving our cheese a richer, more buttery taste. It also results in higher aromatic compounds that give some of our cheeses more floral notes.
The cows in Vermont are on grass only a short amount of time. The rest of the year they are eating hay and silage. When on grass, the cows milk results in cheeses with a greater complexity of flavor, and a slightly herbaceous finish. In winter, the milk results in a more luxurious butter flavor, with complex savory aromas, classic of northeast grasses that are used for silage. — Meg Gonzalez, Grafton Village Cheese
Embracing the mysteries
Each wheel of cheese represents the seasons as well as the method and temperament of the cheesemaker. Further adding to its mystery is that this happens without strict atmospheric controls. Cheeses made in spring (mud season) and fall (Indian Summer) are more moist; cheeses crafted during summer and winter are drier. We occasionally adjust the temperature of our aging rooms, but the rest is up to nature. — Dawn Morin-Boucher, Green Mountain Blue Cheese
Thanks to all the cheesemakers that participated in this roundtable! Learn more about all of them in our Farm Focus profiles, and shop our bestselling artisan cheeses here.
Farm photos courtesy of: The Farm at Doe Run; Jasper Hill Farm; Dre Snow for Meadow Creek Dairy; Merlin Backus for Barn First Creamery
